Fundamental Love
by DisneyDreamer07
Summary: It's a normal day like any other. Well, at least until Takuya gets a mysterious text message. Deciding to drag his best friend along with him, Takuya and Alex embark on an adventurous journey to the DigitalWorld. TakuyaxAlex
1. Chapter 1: Text Message to Your Destiny

Ever hear of the phrase, "Time is of the essence?"

Well, I had never really given it much thought before, but while Takuya and I were currently racing towards the train station through the empty streets of Jiyuugaoka, Tokyo...well, I suppose you could say I was mulling that phrase over.

The cause of our rushed state was due to the device that was held firmly in Takuya's right hand. He briefly glanced down at his cell phone, reading the time off of its screen."5:40!? Aw, man! Are we ever goanna make it!?" Takuya cried out in an exasperated tone, already stressed out that we were late enough as it was. "Don't worry, Takuya. I'm sure we'll make it." I reassured my best friend, only calming him down slight if not just a bit.

Neither one of us noticed the father and son kicking a soccer ball to one another in front of the apartment we had just bolted past. Our focus was locked on getting to the train station on time.

"Here it comes!" the little boy shouted out to his father, kicking the soccer ball towards him. It was then that the father's cell phone rang, causing him to reach into his pocket and pull out the device, answering it, only to be answered by the sound of static. "Huh? What on earth?" he muttered to himself in confusion. "Dad! The ball!" the little boy shouted as the ball flew past the father.

The soccer ball rolled past Takuya, catching his attention. We watched it come to a stop in the middle of the street that we were about to cross. "I'll get it!" Takuya called out to the family, running into the street to fetch their lost ball with me at his heels. "I swear...it's one of those days…" Takuya muttered to himself, coming to a halt in front of the ball and kicking it back to the father and son, not noticing a giant truck that was heading our way.

"Eh?" I turned my head towards the oncoming truck, noticing that the driver was too occupied with answering his cell phone to even notice me and Takuya standing in the road.

"HEY, WATCH OUT!!"

Caught off guard by some boy's shout, I whipped around to see if he was in the road as well. My eyes scanned the street but the only two out here was me and Takuya. Speaking of streets…

"Takuya!!" I yelped, grabbing his hand and tugging on it, quickly gaining his attention. He shot me an odd look, wondering what had me so worried. He was answered by the sound of screeching tires when the truck driver finally realized that there were children in the street. The headlights from the truck blinded us as it continued to skid towards us, unable to immediately come to a stop.

"Ah, perfect! This is my destiny?" Takuya shouted, preparing for the harsh impact we were about to receive.

~*~*~*~*~*~

/Flashback/

"Could today possibly get any more boring?" Takuya asked me, mindlessly drumming his fingers against the top of the table we were seated at.

"Aw, hunny. You can't be late tonight it's Shinya's birthday." Mrs. Kanbara was on the phone with her husband, trying her best to persuade him to come home in time for dinner (or more like telling him). It was Shinya's birthday today. The birthday boy was currently lying on the ground, drawing in his brand new coloring book that he had received from his grandmother. The house was decorated for the occasion. Mrs. Kanbara had made me and Takuya stay home today to be with Shinya (not to mention decorate the house as well). This didn't exactly sit well with Takuya. He had wanted to go out and roam around town looking for something exciting to do. Staying at home with his annoying (according to Takuya) little brother wasn't on his list for things 'To do'.

"Cheer up, Takuya. I'm sure we'll have plenty of time to explore tomorrow." I said, watching the boy scoff quietly while reaching forward to scarf one of the strawberries off of Shinya's cake that was placed in front of us.

"Tell dad to get me something big. Like a forklift!" Shinya called out to his mother.

"Mind your manners, Shinya. And don't even think about eating that cake, Takuya." Mrs. Kanbara scolded her two sons without so much as even glancing back to look at them. I snickered quietly in amusement, watching Takuya's surprised expression. He wasn't able to scarf the strawberry, but he did manage to scarf some frosting.

"Mmm..." Takuya savored the taste, his brown orbs glancing in my direction. I raised a brow, wondering what was going through his mind right now. A small devious grin crossed his face. Uh-oh. It never ended well on my behalf whenever he was impish.

I opened my mouth to question my friend, but was unable to do so when Takuya grasped my right hand and pulled it towards Shinya's birthday cake. "H-hey! What are you..." Takuya dipped my index finger into the white frosting. He glanced towards me briefly, shooting me one more devious grin before placing my frosting covered finger into his mouth. Shivers ran down my spine at the feeling of Takuya's tongue swishing around my sugar coated finger.

I can't believe he just did that!

"Mmm... the frosting tastes way better when it's on you." Takuya noted, grinning childishly.

A light blush tinted my cheeks. I blinked in surprise before my right eye twitched in annoyance. "Quit teasing me, Takuya!" I snapped irritably, bopping my friend upside the head. Takuya seemed un-phased by my assault. He snickered quietly to himself while rubbing his head with his right hand.

"It's so unlike you to be bashful, Alex." Takuya teased me playfully.

"And it's so unlike _you_ to flirt." I retorted with an irk mark, causing the boy beside me to laugh.

Opening my mouth for another comment, I paused when Takuya's cell phone suddenly beeped, signaling that he had just received a text message.

"Huh? In-coming message?" Takuya muttered, arching a brow as his phone continued to beep. Putting a pause on our little 'argument', Takuya curiously glanced at the screen to see who had sent him a text. "No name? Weird."

I watched my friend press the 'enter' button on his phone so that he could read the message. "Are you sure you should be reading a random text sent by someone you don't know?" I questioned warily.

Takuya chuckled and shot me an innocent look. "You worry too much, Alex. Why not enlighten our boring day with a little excitement? Even if it is a text message, it's better than being bored, ne?"

"Your aloofness astounds me, Takuya." I sighed, watching the boy access his message.

"Alex and Takuya Kanbara..."

"Eh!?" Takuya and I both leaned forward with surprised expressions etched onto our faces after we heard a woman's voice speak our names from within Takuya's cell phone.

"It is time to decide your future, young ones."

"Hey!" Takuya yelped, quickly reaching forward and grabbing his phone while standing up. "Who is this? What do you mean our future?" Takuya asked hastily, easily getting worked up by what this stranger had said.

"Your destiny is calling." The woman's voice spoke up. "Take the 5:45 outbound train"

"This is way better than being bored. Our destiny, Alex? That's downright cool!" Takuya told me excitedly.

"You don't find this the least bit suspicious?" I asked, shooting my friend an odd look.

Takuya directed his attention to the clock hanging on the wall. The current time was 5:38.

_*Ah! Ooh...we'll never make it.* _Takuya pouted slightly before a look of determination crossed his face. _*But that's never stopped us before!*_

"Takuya?" I called my friend's name, watching him swipe his hat off of his chair before whipping around and grabbing my hand, yanking me forward and causing me to release a startled yelp as he began to drag me towards the front door.

"Getting an ugly tie is not the Cubin missile crisis!" Mrs. Kanbara snapped irritably into the phone, catching sight of her son running towards the door. "And Takuya, Alex, be careful out there! No playing in the street, it's dangerous!" Mrs. Kanbara called after us.

/End Flashback/

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Man! Why do moms always have to be right!?" Takuya whined. The front headlights of the truck blinded us, and the driver sounded his horn as the sound of screeching tires filled the air. Deciding to take it upon myself to do something since Takuya was spellbound, I tackled him out of the way, just narrowly avoiding death by an inch.

Takuya landed on his back while I landed atop of him, gripping his shirt tightly and burying my face into his chest, still freaked out by what had just happened. Dust surrounded us due to the screeching halt from the tires of the giant truck.

The driver slammed his door open and leaned out, trying to see if he had hurt us. "Are you okay!?" he called out to us.

Takuya groaned as he sat up, rubbing his head. He then realized the position we were in and blushed, but on the other hand, we were always getting into situations like this. "Takuya!! I swear! Watch where you're going! You almost got killed!" I shouted at my best friend angrily with an irk mark, bopping him upside the head. "Okay, okay! Sorry, Alex!" Takuya yelped, holding up both of his hands to show that he was sincere.

An electronic beep sounded, directing both of our attention back to the phone held firmly in Takuya's right hand. The text message he had received earlier flashed across the screen, causing Takuya to instantly panic. "Oh no!"

Remembering that we had a train to catch, Takuya totally brushed off the fact that we were almost killed as he shouted out to the trucker, asking what time it was.

"What? Uh...a couple before 5:45." The truck driver responded, glancing down at the watch attached to his wrist.

"Gah! Come on, Alex!" Takuya shouted out in panic, grabbing my hand and quickly standing up, running off towards the train station while dragging me behind him.

"Ugh! Why does this always happen to us!?"

~*~*~*~*~*~

"This is so NOT my day!!" Takuya growled under his breath, panting slightly. He continued to drag me through town, racing towards Jiyuugaoka Station as if death were at our heels...which had happened a couple minutes ago but was apparently forgotten by my hotheaded friend.

Pushing his way through the crowd, Takuya had managed to bring us to Jiyuugaoka Station in one piece. His brown orbs quickly read the time off of the clock hanging above us. The time was 5:44.

"One minute!? Ugh, great!" Takuya cried out in an exasperated tone.

Glancing to my right, I caught sight of the ticket machines. "Come on, Takuya." I urged my friend, tugging on his hand and leading him over to the machines. Takuya tried to catch his breath while I purchased our train tickets. "Here," I handed my friend his ticket. "Come on, Alex!" Takuya grabbed my hand and dragged me off to catch our train.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"What a close call..." I breathed, leaning against Takuya after the two of us had collapsed onto the floor, having just made it with a second to spare. "I can't...believe...we made it..." Takuya panted, leaning back into me while releasing a strained sigh.

"You just had to listen to that ridicules message, didn't you?" I berated my friend.

"Well it's better than just sitting at home doing nothing! Besides, how often is it that I get a chance to hang out with you, just the two of us without Shinya?" Takuya retorted, his brown orbs locking gazes with my own blue ones, causing a light blush to tint my cheeks.

I watched Takuya glance down at his cell phone when it beeped. Coincidently, everyone's phone began to ring as they quickly answered them only to hear the sound of static. In front of us was a boy our age. He had long navy blue hair pulled back into a pony tail with a blue and brown bandanna on his head. He wore a navy blue jacket over his yellow t-shirt, and he had dark blue eyes. He pulled out his cell phone and flipped it open just as Takuya got another message.

Takuya seemed to take notice of the boy in front of us. "I wonder if he's here because of the message?" Takuya asked me. "Isn't that a bit strange though?" I asked him, earning a confused stare from my friend. "I mean, isn't it strange that everyone here is getting a message at the same time?" I rephrased.

"You're just paranoid, Alex." Takuya replied, turning his attention back to his cell phone and reading the next message.

"Transfer to the six o' clock westbound train." The woman's voice instructed, displaying the new text message for Takuya with the details required.

I gave Takuya's phone a strange and exasperated look. "The six o' clock westbound train? That's absurd! We only just got on this one."

"Uh," Takuya glanced around, trying to see if anyone had a watch with the current time. He managed to catch sight of a man standing next to us with a watch on his right wrist, providing the time for us.

17:54.

"Takuya?" I questioned, watching my friend immediately get to his feet and release a loud frustrated scream, startling just about everyone, including me.

"Auuuugh! COME ON!! Gimme a break! I'm doing the best I can!" Takuya shouted, holding his head with both hands.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, COME ON!!" Takuya muttered impatiently, tightening his grip on my hand while anxiously waiting for the train to come to a complete stop and open the doors for us. Once the train's doors opened, Takuya dragged me out of the train and then came to a halt outside, frantically glancing to his right and left for some sign to lead us where we needed to go.

"Now what?" Takuya asked me anxiously, turning his gaze towards me with a look that screamed 'HELP!'

"How should I know?" I replied with a sweat-drop, not having an answer for my friend.

It was then that the boy we had seen earlier passed us and disappeared into the crowd. Takuya and I both blinked in surprise, averting our gazes to his bandana which was pretty much the only thing we could determine was his in this crowded station.

"Maybe...he knows." Takuya said, giving my hand a small squeeze before taking off after the boy.

"Whoa!!" I yelped, trying my best to keep up with my fast friend. I noticed that my grip with was his hand was weakening as he pretty much dragged me through the busy crowd. "H-hey! Takuya!!" I called to my friend, but he was too focused on catching up with the mysterious boy to even notice his grip loosening.

Just as I thought, my hand slipped out of Takuya's as he continued to run after the boy. "Hey, Takuya! Wait up!" I called running after my best friend. I almost caught up to Takuya when I suddenly ran into someone, knocking us both down.

"Ow..." I rubbed my head and opened one eye to see what I had hit. I found out that I had run into a boy around my age that looked exactly like the other one that Takuya was chasing, but this one had on different clothes and he had shorter hair with a baseball cap on.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" I cried, quickly standing up and holding out my hand to help the boy up. He gladly accepted my hand, allowing me to pull him back up. "I didn't hurt you did I?" I asked with concern.

"Nah, don't worry about it!" the boy replied with a kind smile.

A sigh of relief escaped my lips. "I apologize. My friend was chasing someone and we got separated, and that's when I bumped into you. I'm guessing that Takuya's habits are rubbing off on me." I said with a sigh, rubbing the back of my head sheepishly.

The boy laughed. "I'm guessing this 'Takuya' guy is an impatient one, am I right?" the boy asked me with a smile. I grinned, "You got it. Takuya's pretty hot-headed. I swear! I don't know how I keep up with him." My comment caused the boy to laugh again.

"By the way, my name's Alex. What's yours?" I asked the boy curiously, holding out my hand. The boy smiled and took my hand, "My name's Kouichi. It's nice to meet you, Alex." Kouichi told me as we shook hands.

"By the way, where were you going in such a rush?" Kouichi asked me curiously.

"Oh, Takuya and I were chasing some guy that knew where the train we were looking for was located," I answered. "What about you? Where are you headed?" I asked Kouichi curiously. "I'm looking for my brother." Kouichi told me. "Your brother? Are you meeting him here or something?" I asked my new friend.

Kouichi smiled and shook his head. "No. Actually, my brother doesn't know I exist." He replied with a sad smile. "What?! How on earth could he not know you exist!?" I asked in shock, causing Kouichi to chuckle in amusement at my reaction.

"My mom and dad are divorced. So I never knew that I had a brother until my grandma was dying in the hospital. She told me that I had a twin brother and that I should find him. I recently found out where he lives. He still lives with dad and he has a new mom." Kouichi explained to me.

"...I don't get it? If you knew where he was, how come you waited so long to meet up with him?" I asked in confusion. Kouichi released a low chuckle, "I guess you could say that I was scared. I didn't have the guts to face my brother." Kouichi sighed. "Oh. I guess that would explain it." I said with a grin.

Just then, an image of the boy I had seen earlier appeared in my mind.

"Hey!! Wait a sec! Twin brother!?" I cried out. Kouichi shot me a confused look. "I i_saw_/i your brother! That's the guy Takuya was running after!" I told Kouichi, causing his eyes to widen.

"What? You saw Kouji!?" Kouichi asked me in a rush.

"Yeah! Last time I saw them, Takuya and your brother were headed towards the elevators." I told Kouichi, pointing over to the area where my best friend had disappeared.

"Come on!" Kouichi told me, quickly grabbing my hand and bolting towards the elevators.

As we neared our destination, Kouichi and I caught sight of Kouji entering an elevator and closing the doors. A blur of red managed to catch my eye, making me whip my head around to see Takuya running towards the elevator with a look of determination etched onto his face. Using all his energy, Takuya jumped and then dived into the elevator just barely managing to make it before the doors shut completely.

"Dang it!" I growled in frustration, reaching the elevator with Kouichi just as the doors slammed shut. He banged his fist on the door and quickly looked around, catching sight of a flight of stairs leading down.

"This way!" Kouichi shouted, running towards the stairs with me at his heels. We were both determined to catch up with Kouji and Takuya.

"Kouichi! What if we don't make it?" I asked, growing a little frantic.

"Then we'll find another way!" Kouichi responded, taking a sharp turn and running down another flight of stairs.

We quickly turned around the corner and was about to run down the last flight of stairs when suddenly an unseen force pushed both Kouichi and I, causing us both to fall forward, our feet leaving the stairs.

"This can't be good!!" I cried, feeling myself beginning to panic.

Kouichi and I braced ourselves for the harsh impact that we were about to hit head on. I felt the boy beside me grab my hand as we shut our eyes tight, fearing that this would probably be our last experience for a long, long time.


	2. Chapter 2: Panic Mode: Activated

**(Takuya's POV)**

"Whew! I can't believe...we made it!" I gasped, sitting up after having to dive into the elevator. "Who would've thought we'd get this far, eh, Alex?" I asked cheerfully, giving my right hand a gentle squeeze. My heart froze and my breath was caught in my throat when I realized that I wasn't holding Alex's hand.

Slowly turning my head, my gaze fell onto my hand to see that Alex's hand wasn't in it. I took a hitched breath and slowly looked up, hoping that I had just let go of her hand when I dove into the elevator and that she was right next to me.

…But I was wrong.

Alex wasn't anywhere in sight! How could this have happened!? She was right there with me! There's no way I could have lost her so easily!

"Damn it!" I hissed, quickly getting to my feet. Panic slowly began to take over my emotions. Can't blame myself...I've never lost Alex before. NEVER! This is the first. Could one compare this situation to a parent who's lost their child? Dang. I'll never blow mom off again when she tells me to stay close by. This feeling of having lost someone is pure torture!

Stress overload! Gah! I need someone to take this out on...

My gaze fell onto pretty boy.

Target locked.

I grabbed collar of the boy's shirt, yanking him towards me while surprising him with my sudden action. "Tell me-!! When I came into this elevator, was there a girl with me!?" I asked the boy, panic and anger lacing in my voice, easily expressing my emotions for me. The boy gave me an odd look and pushed me away, fixing his jacket. A few seconds passed without a response.

Growing rather impatient with this guy's incompetence, I lashed out at him. **"WELL? WAS THERE A GIRL WITH ME OR NOT!?"**

The boy looked at me and sent me a glare. "Look, you came here alone. There. Happy?"

"No way..." I breathed, my eyes widening slightly in shock. How could I have possibly lost my best friend and not notice? We're inseparable! Leave it to me to be thickheaded enough to do something as dimwitted as this. Ugh! How stupid can I get?

My eyes darted to the meter which displayed how many floors we had passed. We had already descended five floors. Surely there was enough time to head back up? Yeah! I still have time to find Alex.

I grabbed the boy by his shirt collar once again, narrowing my eyes and releasing a low growl. "Get us back up!" I demanded. He sent me a glare, "And why should I?" he asked me in annoyance. "Because I have to find my friend! There! Is that a good answer!?" I snarled. Heh. I surprised myself. I have to admit, I've never snarled at someone before, but then again, I needed to find Alex. We've never been apart for more than five minutes. This'll probably be a new record...

The boy snorted and turned his head away from me. "It's too late…"

All right, this dude's asking for it. "What the hell do you mean _"It's too late"_'!? We have plenty of time to go get her!!" I shouted angrily.

The boy smacked my hand, causing me to instantly release him. "I wasn't talking about time!" the boy snapped, fixing his jacket from my assault. "Then what the hell are you talking about!?" I growled. The boy glared harshly at me and jabbed his thumb towards the level of floors that we had descended.

"W...w-what the heck!?" I cried, my eyes widening in surprise when I noticed that the elevator continued to descend downward to an unknown destination.

The elevator began to pick up speed and then jolted to a stop, causing me to crash to the ground. I groaned in pain as I sat up and rubbed my head. "Alex's right. I am always landing on my head..." I muttered to myself, wincing slightly from my harsh landing.

My eyes widened at mention of her name. That's right! I had to find Alex!

The sound of the elevator doors opening caught my attention. Glancing up, my jaw dropped when the sight beyond the doors revealed a hidden station with thousands of kids and odd looking trains. Noise filled the air as kids boarded and un-boarded trains.

Could this day get any weirder?

My thoughts were interrupted by my cell phone as another message came. I pulled my cell phone out, just in time to hear that woman's voice again.

"It's up to you now. Which one will you choose?"

"Well that's all fine and dandy, but I haven't got time for this! I need to find my friend. My destiny's just gonna hafta wait. I'm not going anywhere without Alex." I declared, narrowing my eyes at the phone. Just as I was about to pocket my phone, the woman's voice spoke again, catching my attention.

"Choose your train and it will lead you to your friend."

"Is this some kind of bribe, or are you actually telling the truth?" I questioned warily, my heart feeling rather heavy with having to trust this odd person who was texting me. A blue blur rushed past me and headed towards the black train. Well, there goes pretty boy. I hope his train crashes. Surely he won't be missed. Well, at least by me he won't.

*GONG*

"Eh?" I noticed that all of the trains' doors were closing when the clock struck 6'. Just my luck...I'm probably going to have to run now. I cursed under my breath while rushing forward, determined to catch the red train that was now pulling out of the station along with the others. "Destiny sure involves a lot of running." I muttered bitterly to myself, my right eye twitching in annoyance as I reached out to grab a hold of the bar on the back of the red train's caboose. So close, yet I feel so far. I could feel myself start to breathe heavily as I began to tire. Shutting my eyes tight, I let out a small aggravated scream. Then, an image of Alex appeared in my mind.

/Flashback/

"Choose your train and it will lead you to your friend."

/End Flashback/

My eyes snapped open with determination. I bolted forward and grabbed the steel bar, pulling myself onto the train's platform. I panted heavily, trying to catch my breath. Just as I looked up, I saw a black train next to us with the boy that I had met in the elevator, standing on the platform, sending me a cold glare. I glared right back, but our glaring contest soon came to an end as our trains both entered separate tunnels.

"Oh, way to think ahead, Takuya. Where ever you're going you're gonna get there in a hurry." I muttered to myself, watching the last shed of light from the end of the tunnel before it disappeared completely.

Turning my body around, I faced the door. "Well, here goes nothing." I sighed, grasping the door handle with right hand and twisting it open. "Huh?" I blinked in surprise when I realized that no one was in this train compartment. "No one?" I mused, placing my hands on my hips. There had been so many children in the station. How could this train be empty? Taking a few steps forward, I took in my surroundings. "It's like a ghost train in here." My last comment made me pause. "What if it _is_ a ghost train?" I officially freaked myself out, causing me to dash to the door leading to the next train compartment.

Slamming the door open, I found myself staring into the compartment where three other children resided. Their attention was directed towards me after I had entered. It was rather awkward having them all just...staring at me. Talk about unnerving. Sheesh!

Deciding to redirect their attention from myself, I tried to strike up a conversation by holding up my cell phone. "Uh, you here 'cause of the...phone thing?"

The chubby boy on my left scoffed and went back to eating his chocolate bar, while the girl on my right nodded her head. Meanwhile the small boy in the back simply ignored me. Not that I minded or anything. "With him here, that makes four of us. I wonder if that means something special?" the girl asked the chubby boy seated across from her.

"'Something special'? What?" I raised a brow, wondering what she had meant by that. Shrugging it off, I walked up to the chubby boy and girl. "Why'd you guys get on this train?" No answer. How nice... Okay, let's try this again. "I mean, was it the message?" I asked, turning to face the chubby boy.

"Hey, kid...this is the closest train to the elevator, okay? Now look, just leave me alone." The chubby boy scoffed.

"Gee, sorry." I snorted, narrowing my eyes at this tub of lard. How rude can ya get? Ask a simple question, get a rude response. What a lovely world we live in. Where's Alex when you need her. She always blew the rude people off, so it wasn't really hard for me to get so easily offended by them. But when I'm on my own...it's a whole different story. I tend to take their words to heart, so if someone rubbed me the wrong way, I'd be in a foul mood until Alex made everything right again.

Noticing my annoyed expression, the chubby boy released a puff of air. "I'm just nervous." He confessed, catching my attention. Oh, so that's what's got this dude so high strung? Well, I guess I can forgive him for that. I'm kinda nervous myself with Alex missing and all...

"But, there must be a particular reason why you picked this train, right?" I trailed off, wondering why I was even asking this. The blonde girl behind me giggled, causing me to turn around and direct my attention to her. "Unlike him, it was closest to the elevator." She told me with a smile.

Unlike him? Isn't that _exactly_ like him?

"Teehee!" I eyed the chubby boy strangely. A weird expression crossed over his face as he eyed the girl. "Watch this," he told me before looking past me and grinning towards the girl across from him. "Hey, honey. You want some chocolate?"

You gotta be kidding me...

"No," the girl replied, shaking her head. "Move!" the chubby boy demanded, shoving me aside. "Hey!" I snapped irritably, stumbling a bit. This guy had some nerve to do that! Just who does he think he is? Great. Just great. I'm stuck with a total flirt. This should be interesting.

The chubby boy leaned forward, jabbing a thumb towards his chest. "My name's JP. What's yours?"

"I'm Zoey. It's nice to meet you." The girl responded, smiling at JP and me.

Both of their attention was directed at me, causing me to fidget slightly under their gaze. What are they _staring_ at...? Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. Well, I sure feel stupid right about now.

"And I'm...I'm Takuya. Hi there." I grinned sheepishly, waving slightly at the two kids in front of me.

"...I'm..."

"Huh?" Turning around, I glanced at the small boy hunched over in his seat. "What did you say?" I asked, cocking my head to the side slightly, wondering if he was trying to say something or if it was just my imagination. The small boy was determined to keep his head turned away from us so that we couldn't see his face. Huh, I wonder what's his problem?

"I'm Tommy, but..." he trailed off, sniffling slightly. "I didn't want to get on this train."

Okay, he lost me. If he didn't want to be on this train, then why did he even get on in the first place? I mean, doesn't it make more sense not to come if you obviously don't want to? Maybe he was following his sibling or something. Or what if he got lost?

...Why am I even thinking about this?

"What are you talking about?" I asked in a slightly exasperated tone, ticked off at myself for not having just asked this simple question instead of trying to make my brain explode with stupid, unnecessary thoughts.

"I...I..." the boy sobbed, catching us all by surprise as his shoulders shook slightly when he spoke. "Two kids...bullies, they...pushed me on the train and shut the door." He whipped his head around to face us, startling us when we noticed that he was crying up a river here. "Why are kids always picking on me!?"

"Uh..." Well, that was the smartest response I could possibly come up with right now. What's a kid supposed to say to another kid who's really upset? I'm not an expert in this!! That's where Alex comes in, she's always great with understanding other's feelings. Me? I'm the kinda type who just stands there and nods his head stupidly in agreement with everything she says.

"Geez, that kid's like a faucet." JP commented, earning a disproving glare from Zoey as she began to scold him.

The lights in the compartment suddenly went out, causing all of us to glance up at the lighting system with confused expressions etched on our faces. That was weird...the power just went out. We didn't blow a fuse, though. Normally when that happens it kinda sounds like a light bulb blowing up. I would now. I've managed to blow quite a few fuses when helping Dad out with fixing up the house. Then again, he isn't really a "Bob the Builder" type of guy either. Guess it runs in the family...

"Whoa!" I yelped, tumbling backwards along with everyone else as the train compartment began to jerk around. Sitting up, I didn't notice an illusion flash over me for second, but I did notice some kind of image of creatures flash over my new 'friends' for a second. But as quickly as it came, it disappeared in an instant, making me wonder if what I saw was even real.

Just when you think things can't get any weirder, my cell phone starts to glow brightly, pretty much blinding me in the process.

...It then transformed into some kind of device.

What the heck is this thing? It looks like a gameboy or something. I wonder...do you think you can download music onto this thing? Okay, that was totally off subject.

"...What's going on?" I muttered to myself, furrowing my brows in thought.

"Welcome to the DigitalWorld, Takuya. This is your D-tector."

Oh wonderful. Now the crazy woman's in my...tector-thingy-whatever-the-heck-it-is thing.

"DigitalWorld? You're kidding, right?" I asked the device in my hand, waiting for some kind of response from the woman. Of course, she never answered me. Great, just great. I totally lost Alex somewhere back at the train station, I jump onto some random train without even really thinking things through, I just lost my cell phone, the only communication device I had left, and now I'm being taken to some bizarre place called the "DigitalWorld". Where the heck is that place anyway? Is it even on the map!?

"Did you guys get that message?" I asked, turning my attention towards the three kids sprawled out on the ground, staring dumbfounded at the strange devices in their hands. Huh, I wonder if I had looked like that?

_*I'm guessing yes.*_ I thought to myself, releasing a puff of air.

"WHOOOO-WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!"

"Augh!" the small yelp left my lips as I quickly moved my hands to cover my ears, trying my best to block out that monstrous train whistle which was pretty much trying to explode my brain with how ridiculously loud it was. The rest of the kids followed my example, covering their sensitive ears as well.

"Ugh! You can hear that on mars!" I snapped irritably, slowly pulling my hands away when the loud sound began to die down. "Man!" I grumbled to myself, highly agitated at the moment, but that feeling quickly disappeared when I noticed Zoey looking out the window, gazing at some weird creatures that were floating around outside.

Zoey crawled up onto the seat. "Are those...ghosts?"

"They look like it." Tommy replied nervously, slowly etching away from the window.

"Or marshmallows. They go great with chocolate!" JP added with a grin, licking his lips.

One of those odd creature came up to the window and smashed it's face against it, making odd faces at us while freaking Zoey out in the process, causing her to scream like a little girl.

"Probably ghosts of kids that came here before." I put in my thoughts, earning a whack upside the head from an extremely agitated Zoey. Rubbing my sore head and shooting the blonde haired girl a glare, I started to think of the outcome from my hasty decision that I had made earlier before boarding this train. "What have I gotten myself into? And what if there's no way of getting back out?" I mulled over the possibilities of never being able to go home.

"Geez...calm down, Takuya. We're in this together, remember?" Zoey reminded me with her hands placed on her hips.

"Hey, we're starting to slow down." JP piped up, causing us all to look out the window. Up ahead was a train station, probably where we were headed right now. I hope there's a train heading straight back. Mom's gonna freak if I come home without Alex. Plus, if we miss Shinya's birthday party, Mom will never let us live it down.

"It looks like a train station." Zoey said, stating the obvious. "I hope there aren't any more of those ghost things there. Not that I was scared or anything."

JP chuckled, rolling his eyes at Zoey's attempt to appear calm. "Yeah, I always scream in terror when I'm not afraid."

"Ugh! Boys..." Zoey grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest and turning away from us.

The train finally came to a stop and the doors opened, allowing us to peer out to see some more bizarre creatures crowding around our train. They were the size of a soccer ball, and were grey with yellow beady looking little eyes. Did I mention they have floppy ears like a bunny? Now that's just plain wrong and creepy looking. Bleh!

"Human kids!"

"Someone to play with!"

"Just don't break 'em this time!"

"Creepy AND freakish!" I shivered slightly, a bit disturbed by these creatures staring us down. No one moved to exit the train, which I thought was a great idea, considering that if we got off we'd have to face those...things. Of course, we didn't really have a choice in the matter considering that we were then blow out by a huge gust of steam. Where the heck did that come from anyway!?

"That first step's a doozy."

Sitting up, I stared strangely at the train. "Is it just me or did the train just talk?" I asked my friends, wondering what planet it was that we had just landed on if there were talking trains and weird looking creatures here.

"Hey! I'm not just _any_ old train. I'm Trailmon, and I'm alive just like you. Although I'm more handsome than you scrunched up little pugs, thank you very much." The train scoffed, glancing back at us. "Anywho, this is Flame Terminal. You're in the heart of a digimon village."

"Digimon village?" I repeated his last words, trying to take everything in.

"We are pals!" the grey creatures piped up, redirecting our attention to them. "Our last friends didn't last very long."

We all sat back to back, freaking out slightly as the creatures surrounded us, hissing and snarling while staring at us with those freakish eyes of theirs. This seemed to have gotten to Tommy, seeing as how he broke down and began to cry. "Waaaah! I didn't even want to be on this train!" Tommy sobbed as I tried my best to calm him.

"Sorry you feel that way, kiddo. But I can't stick around. If you wanna go home you're gonna hafta find yourself a spirit or something." The Trailmon informed us while pulling out of the station.

"This kid should get a job as a fire alarm." JP grumbled bitterly, glaring at Tommy.

"What's a spirit? And where do we get one? Hey! Are you even listening to me!? Hellooo!!" Zoey called out after the Trailmon.

"Where are you going? Give us an answer! Hey!" JP shouted out.

"Hey yourself! I've got a schedule to keep." Trailmon retorted before disappearing from our sights, leaving us alone at this rather empty station, aside from having the evil midget creatures staring us down.

Standing up, I gazed out towards the tracks where the Trailmon was last seen. "So, I guess that's it. We're all alone."

Wait a minute! I completely forgot about Alex!!

"HEY!!" I screamed, startling all of my friends. "What about my friend!? That woman told me I'd find her if I took the train. HEEEY! Answer me!!" I released a frustrated scream when I got no reply. Ugh! How could this have happened? I'm stranded out in the middle of nowhere with no idea as to how I'm even gonna find Alex, much less get back before Shinya's party. I am so screwed!!

I whipped around, anger still boiling deep within my gut, but my anger quickly diminished when I saw a figure of someone through the steam that the Trailmon had left behind in his departure. My heart filled with hope as the steam slowly began to fade, revealing the person's identity.

"ALEX!!"


	3. Chapter 3: Insanity Ensues

Darkness...complete and utter darkness without any shed of light.

"Takuya?" I called out, wondering if my best friend was around. Instead of hearing his voice, I was answered with silence. My eyes scanned my surrounds, which wasn't much considering that I was trapped in the darkness. Where, I didn't even know. My memories of earlier are all fuzzy. I couldn't remember what I had been doing before I had arrived...here. It was like I was in a black hole, with no way out. No light to guide me back.

I released a small frustrated sigh, finding the current atmosphere rather depressing. Closing my eyes, I decided that I should try and recall what had happened to have had me end up here. So far...I'm drawing nothing but a blank. My memory of early refused to come, frustrating me slightly as I furrowed my brows and tried my best to recall the event. Nothing was coming to mind, expect for an image of a boy that I had met earlier.

...Kouichi.

"Gah! Kouichi!" What could have happened to him?

"Hey, Kouichi! Are you here?" I called out, waiting anxiously for some sort of reply from the boy. Yet again, I was answered by silence. "Great..." I huffed rather bitterly to myself, running a hand through my hair. "First I get separated from Takuya. Now I've seem to have lost Kouichi. This isn't exactly a good day for me, now is it?" I stood still for a moment, trying to process my current situation. I'm trapped in some sort of dark void with no exits available, there seems to be no life here whatsoever, and I don't have a cell phone, hence no communication device, therefore I am unable to call for help. Lovely...

My thoughts soon drifted off to my earlier scramble with Takuya. He was so psyched to find out what his destiny was. I wonder...did he ever find that destiny of his? Huh, wish I could know for sure. To be perfectly honest, whenever we're out together, he's pretty much the leader. I simply follow him wherever he goes. Heck, if we ever got into any trouble, I'd normally just blame it on him at times if it was for something incredibly stupid which he managed to drag me into. Then again, if it was just some random trouble, I'd pretty much just go down with him. Ah, the good ol' times.

/Flashback/

_"It is time to decide your future, young ones."_

_"Your destiny is calling."_

/End flashback/

"Destiny is calling, eh?" I glanced at my surroundings. "Some destiny this is. So what am I supposed to do now? Just remain lost here forever?"

"That doesn't exactly sound promising now, does it?"

Quickly whipping around, I almost fell back in surprise when I caught sight of Kouichi standing next to me with an amused expression on his face. "Sneak up on me and give me a heart attack, why don't cha!?" I snapped irritably, grabbing the cloth of my shirt which covered my poor startled organ. Kouichi grinned innocently, "Well, I would've announced my presence, but you were too deep in thought to have even noticed me. So I thought I'd humor you and just remain quiet until you came back." I narrowed my eyes slightly when I heard the teasing tone in his voice. What is up with guys humoring girls anyway? He could've just told me he was there. It's simpler than giving me a heart attack. Uh, whatever! At least he's okay. He had me really worried a few minutes ago…

Feeling the need for some human contact, I moved closer to Kouichi, hesitantly reaching my right hand out before finally mustering enough courage to just wrap my arms around him and hug him. My sudden action seemed to have caught him by surprise. "Eh!? A-are you feeling well, Alex?" Kouichi asked, stiffening slightly. "Yeah, I'm fine." I replied, slowly closing my eyes, enjoying the feeling of having someone around. "I'm glad you're all right, Kouichi. You had me worried..." My comment seemed to have calmed the boy down from my odd reaction to his arrival. Finally relaxing, Kouichi hesitated a moment before hugging me back. "Sorry. I didn't mean to worry you." Kouichi apologized.

After we broke apart, the two of us remain silent for a moment. "So, where are we exactly?" Kouichi asked curiously. "Beats me. I'm not even sure how we ended up here in the first place. Everything's a blur. I can't seem to remember what we were doing earlier." I admitted with a small sigh. "How troublesome..." Kouichi mumbled, rubbing his head with his right hand, furrowing his brows slightly as he thought to himself. "I can't seem to remember our earlier event either."

It was then a small gust of wind managed to capture both mine and Kouichi's attention. "Wind?" Kouichi asked, arching a brow. "How could there possibly be any wind in this place?" Our clothes began to flap as the gust of wind grew stronger. "Well, I'm guessing our philosophy probably won't count here. Wherever here is…" I noted, shielding my eyes with my arm to protect them from the growing wind. "What kind of world is this?" Kouichi breathed, watching the darkness swirl around us before forming into ball. Lowering my arm, I gazed at the ball of darkness that floated harmlessly before us. "What is that...?" I asked, turning my gaze towards the boy beside me. "I'm not sure." Kouichi responded, staring at the dark object. Curiosity getting the better of me, I took a few steps forward, slowly extending my right hand out, hesitating a moment while debating with myself whether I should actually touch it or not. Deciding that I had nothing to lose, I reached forwards and touched the dark ball of energy. No sooner had my hand touched it, the ball of darkness exploded, startling both Kouichi and I as we stumbled back a bit.

"Well, now we know not to touch glowing dark balls of energy." Kouichi noted sarcastically, causing me to have a sweat-drop.

_**"Humans dwelling within the darkness? Well, this is certainly new."**_

"Did you say something, Kouichi?" I asked my companion with a curious look, wondering if that was him that I had just heard. Kouichi stared at me for a moment, "Uh, no." he replied honestly. "But, if that wasn't you..." I trailed off, finding myself at a loss for words when I finally took notice of a dark creature hovering before Kouichi and me where the dark ball of energy used to be. It looked like a giant rabbit of some sort…or more like a giant _corrupted_ rabbit. Now that's just plain creepy.

"What the heck is that?" I asked my friend, gesturing towards the dark creature. Kouichi was unable to respond, considering that he seemed to be at a loss for words as well once he caught sight of the creature. "So, we're up against a giant talking rabbit? Nice." I commented dryly, finding this situation so not humorous.

_**"It's Cherubimon to you, human!!"**_ the giant rabbit sneered.

"Whatev. You're still a rabbit!" I retorted, pointing to the said creature.

_**"I'm not a rabbit! I'm a digimon!"**_ Cherubimon hissed venomously, baring his fangs. He quickly swiped his giant right paw through the air, causing darkness to swirl around Kouichi and me. Okay, freaky rabbit dude's got some mumbo-jumbo up his sleeve. Remember that next time before deciding to mock the dude. I mentally berated myself for having been so careless. Sure, he may just be a giant corrupted rabbit, but we're in his world now, not ours. Who knows what kind of rules apply here?

"Eh?" My attention was directed to Kouichi when I noticed him slowly moving towards Cherubimon. "...Kouichi?" I called out to my friend. He didn't seem to hear me though. "Hey!" I rushed forward, taking a stand in front of Kouichi and blocking his path. "Kouichi?" the boy's eyes seemed to be glazed over. Glancing over my shoulder to see what had caused my friend's trance, I noticed that Kouichi's unfocused gazed seemed to be locked with Cherubimon's beady yellow eyes. Yikes! He's got mumbo-jumbo _and_ hypnotic powers too!? Now that's just downright creepy!

"You do realize that I'm doing this for your own good, right?" I asked my transfixed friend, getting no response whatsoever from the boy. "All right, but just so you know, don't hold this against me." I told him with a sigh. Taking a step back, I stared at my friend for a moment before slapping him. His reaction was exactly how I wanted it. He immediately snapped out of whatever trance he was in. "What the heck-!? What'd I ever do to you?" Kouichi asked, rubbing his sore cheek while staring at me with an incredulous look upon his face. "Sorry, but I had to snap you out of it somehow. You were starting to creep me out." I replied innocently.

_**"How amusing...you two harbor dark souls." **_Cherubimon mused, leaning forward slightly with a smirk on its face.

"Dark souls!? Come off it! Okay, there was that one time I swiped Takuya's brownie in Kindergarten, but that doesn't exactly mean I have a dark soul!" I snapped, highly offended that this stupid rabbit thing was declaring that I had a dark soul. Come on! Who could blame me for taking Takuya's brownie? It had nuts.

_**"Why don't you two join me? Your souls need to be modified a bit, but once the darkness takes you over completely, I'm sure you two will remain loyal to me." **_

"You're crazy!!" I shouted, pointing accusingly at the dark creature. "Do you honestly believe we're gonna join you just 'cause you asked us to? Forget it! Our souls are just fine the way they are. We don't need you meddling with our lives here. So why don't you just get lost!? You're really starting to annoy me." Kouichi stood dumbfounded, unable to utter out a sound. Turning towards my friend, I grabbed his wrist and began to drag him off towards some random direction. I might not know where we're headed, but at least it'll be away from freakazoid over there.

_**"And just where do you think you two are going? If you haven't noticed, you're both trapped within the darkness."**_ Cherubimon informed us with a sneer. I simply ignored the annoying beast and came to a stop before the darkness which was still swirling around us. _**"Go ahead and try to go through it. Once you make contact with it, your souls will be engulfed by the darkness buried deep within your hearts."**_

*_It's times like this that makes me wish I had a weapon to cut through this stuff..._* I thought to myself as my right eye twitched in annoyance. No sooner had I conjured that thought, a bright light flashed in the sky, capturing our attention as we directed our gazes towards the sky to see something hurling towards us.

"What is that?!!" Kouichi asked me, our gazes locked on the falling object. "I dunno...but whatever it is...it's heading straight towards us." I noted. Both mine and Kouichi's eyes widened in shock before we quickly jumped out of the way just as the object crashed into the ground.

Slowly getting up to my knees, I cast a glance over my shoulder towards where the object had collided with the ground. Dust was still surrounding the object, but as it began to fade...a magnificent sword was jabbed into the ground.

_*Talk about convenient!*_ I thought to myself with a sweat-drop.

Kouichi's eyes widened in shock as he watched me stand up and walk over to the sword. "W-w-what are you _doing?!!_" Kouichi shouted to me, watching me place my right hand on the sword's hilt and tighten my grip. "What's it look like, Kouichi?" I asked, pulling the sword out of the ground.

_+I see you're serious about wielding me…was it you who summoned me?+_

I blinked in surprise and glanced over to Kouichi. "Did you say something?" I asked my friend with a quizzical look. Kouichi shot me a strange look before shaking his head 'no'. "I didn't say anything," Kouichi answered, causing me to furrow my brows in thought.

_+It was I who spoke…+_

I glanced down at the sword in my hand, my eyes widening in shock and disbelief.

"Last time I checked...swords don't talk." I said aloud, earning some rather odd looks from both Kouichi and Cherubimon.

_+True…and last time I checked…I have never been summoned by a mere child.+_

"What's that supposed to mean?!!"

_+I mean this is the first time a mere child such as yourself has been able to summon me. I presume you have a good reason?+_

"Does beating the heck out of giant talking rabbit count?"

_+…This would be the first.+_

"So it counts?"

_+Perhaps…+_

"Works for me!" I said with a grin, determination burning in my eyes as I tightened my grip on the swords hilt. "Are you crazy!?" Kouichi asked me in shock, watching me point my blade towards Cherubimon. "Nope! Just a little bit on the insane side is all." I replied honestly. "Well, that certainly makes me feel better..." Kouichi mumbled to himself. "I assure you, you'll get used to it. It took Takuya five years, but he managed." I mused, recalling the time when Takuya first realized that I had a love for doing crazy things at times.

_**"Do you honestly think that I would be startled by you? Even if you do have a weapon, my powers are far greater than that little butter knife of yours!"**_ Cherubimon scoffed, narrowing his beady little eyes at me.

_+Did that monstrosity just call me a butter knife?+_

I snickered slightly at the annoyance this sword seemed to have for having been called a "butter knife". I suppose I should get this over with before it does something. "You know-you're really starting to bug me!" I informed Cherubimon as I the sword I held began to glow brightly. Cherubimon's eyes widened in fear, he jerked back into the shadows to hide himself from the light. The darkness that was once swirling around Kouichi and I quickly disappeared.

I glanced over my shoulder to see the darkness behind us. My eyes then quickly glanced back to the sword in my hand. "Hey, can you cut through darkness?" I asked the blade curiously.

_+Yes. That is one of the many things I am able to do. And don't talk to me like that. People will tend to think you're crazy. You're able to talk to me telepathically you know.+_

_*Telepathically, huh? Just what ARE you? And how are you able to communicate with me?* _I asked the sword in my mind, gazing down at it in amazement.

_+Well for one, I'm a sword. Honestly, I do hope you're not always this dense…+_

My right eye twitched in annoyance. Since when could swords talk back like that?

_*Quit picking on me! I KNOW you're a sword, all right?! I was merely asking how you can talk!*_ I snapped bitterly in my mind.

_+Simple. My last wielder was quite strong. I was able to communicate with them because they fused a bit of their soul into me. I was created by them, and also given a name.+_

_*A name, huh? What is it?*_

_+Seishin.+_

_*Seishin…do you think you could help me and Kouichi escape?*_ I asked slowly in my mind, hoping that Seishin would agree.

_+Yes. Use my powers to cut through the darkness and escape. My powers are now yours to use. But let me just say…it will take time for you to learn them all.+_

_*Thanks, Seishin. I won't abuse your powers.* _

"...Kouichi, take my hand." I told Kouichi in a quiet voice, holding out my left hand. "W-what are you doing?" Kouichi asked me nervously, taking my hand. "We're getting out of here." I replied. Without giving Kouichi so much as a warning, I bolted off towards the darkness on our left, causing Kouichi to practically be dragged by me. A small gasp of surprise left his lips before he quickly regained his balance and ran beside me.

**"**_**You can't escape!!**_**"** Cherubimon screeched, sending the darkness that was swirling around him after Kouichi and me. "Wanna bet!?" I challenged with a smirk, tightening my grip on Kouichi's hand. "Hold on, Kouichi!" I told my friend, causing him to tighten his grip on my hand. I raised Seishin above my head before slicing the darkness that was in front of Kouichi in me in one quick slash, causing a bright portal to appear. "Come on!" I urged Kouichi, tugging on his hand when I noticed his startled expression. He stood still for a moment, then nodded his head as determination appeared in his eyes. Kouichi and I both jumped into the portal, just narrowly avoiding Cherubimon's attack.

"This seems oddly familiar." I yelped, falling through the portal with Kouichi at my side.

*THUD*

Slowly opening my eyes after our harsh landing, I noticed that steam was surrounding Kouichi and me. Unable to see where we currently were due to the steam, our destination remained a mystery for now. On the upside, at least we were able to get away from the crazy, whacko rabbit. Placing Seishin back in its sheath, I silently thanked the sword for our getaway. Who would've thought of attaching one's soul to a sword? Well, whoever did that, I'm eternally grateful that they did so. Otherwise I probably wouldn't be here right now. Moving on... Where has Kouichi gone to?

"Hey, Kouichi! Where – oh..." I trailed off, realizing that I was sitting atop of Kouichi in a straddling position with the blushing boy beneath me, eyes wide and mouth agape. Well, this is certainly awkward. "Gah! Sorry, Kouichi!" I yelped, quickly jumping up off of the poor boy. "N-no...problem." Kouichi replied in a meek tone, his deep blush still visible.

"ALEX!!"

"Huh?" Kouichi propped himself up on his elbows as we both turned our heads to see a figure running towards us through the steam. "Who's that?" Kouichi asked. My eyes instantly lit up when I finally realized who it was that had called out my name. "No need to worry. It's a friend of mine." I reassured Kouichi with a warm smile. A light blush tinted his cheeks as I helped him up. No sooner had I helped Kouichi to his feet, I was tackled into a hug by none other than my best friend, Takuya.

"Takuya!!" I cried happily, eagerly returning his hug. A small sigh of content left my lips as I felt his warmth envelope me along with the sense of security. Takuya always managed to make me feel safe and secure whenever I was with him. It was a feeling I always welcomed with open arms. It's also probably what drew me to him in the first place. He's the greatest friend anyone could ever ask for and I was lucky enough to have found him. "I missed you..." Takuya breathed softly in my ear, pulling me closer while catching me by surprise. "...I missed you too." I stated in a soft tone, slowly closing my eyes and enjoying Takuya's hug.

Neither Takuya nor I seemed to notice the three kids standing behind him once the steam had finally disappeared. "Hey, who's that you found, Takuya?" the girl piped up, gaining our attention and causing us to break our hug. "Whoa!! She's hot! Please tell me she isn't already your girlfriend." The chubby boy said excitedly, hearts appearing in his eyes. Okay...that dude's pretty creepy.

"...Takuya, who are these people?" I asked my friend in a quiet whisper, causing my best friend to laugh sheepishly while rubbing the back of his head. "Uh, sorry, Alex. I met these kids on the train. That's Zoey, JP, and Tommy." Takuya informed me, gesturing to the three children. "Oh, in that case, hi!" I greeted Takuya's friends with a smile and a wave. Zoey grinned and waved back, while Tommy blushed shyly, and JP…well, he's just being all...weird.

"So, who's that?" Takuya asked, glancing towards Kouichi. "Takuya, meet Kouichi. I met up with him after you so rudely ditched me." I teased my friend, causing him to release a nervous laugh. Kouichi chuckled and held out his hand for Takuya, "Hello, Takuya. So you're the one Alex is always talking about. It's nice to finally meet you." Kouichi greeted with a smile as Takuya shook his hand. A light blush tinted Takuya's face when he heard Kouichi's earlier words of me ranting about him. "Uh, yeah..." Takuya stuttered slightly, causing Zoey and I to snicker.

Just then, I felt someone gently tug on my pants leg, causing me to look down to find Tommy staring up at me with his innocent blue eyes. I blinked in surprise. I hadn't really come in contact with other little kids since Shinya, Takuya's younger brother. I bent down so that I was now eye to eye with Tommy. "…" Tommy stared into my eyes, not sure what to say. I decided to break the ice and smiled warmly at Tommy. "Hi, Tommy. Nice to meet you," I greeted the young boy. "H-hi," Tommy stuttered shyly. I noticed that he seemed to be nervous from some strange bizarre creatures which seemed to have surrounded us. "Nervous?" I asked softly, Tommy slowly nodded his head and moved closer to me as the strange creatures sneered and glared at us. I placed my hand on Tommy's head and gently ruffled it, causing Tommy to giggle slightly and relax. "There you go." I encouraged Tommy. I watched a smile appear on his lips as his small took a hold of my own and held it tightly. "You remind me of my mother." Tommy told me, looking up at me with his innocent eyes. I blinked in surprise at Tommy's statement. Takuya smiled softly as he watched Tommy be comforted by me, but Takuya's gentle manner quickly disappeared as he sent me a mild glare.

"So where were you anyway!? Do you have any idea how worried I was?!" Takuya shouted angrily at me, causing everyone to turn their attention to him.

"Say what?" I asked confused.

"I was left in a panic state once I found out you were missing!! Where the heck were you all this time!?" Takuya asked me firmly.

"Uh…" I trailed off with a sweat-drop, not really having an answer.

"Well?!" Takuya asked impatiently, crossing his arms over his chest and narrowing his eyes.

"…Hm. I can't remember, Takuya…" I began, causing him to shoot me a disbelieving look. "Ah, come on Takuya. You gotta believe me!" I whined. Takuya merely snorted in reply. "Aw, Takuya! Cut me some slack. Kouichi and I just got chased by a giant evil talking rabbit!" I countered. Takuya sighed and placed his hands on his hips.

"Do you really expect me to believe that?" He asked, causing me to sigh in defeat and drop my head.

Takuya kept his firm gaze on me. Slowly, his firm gaze turned into a soft one as a smile crossed his face. "I'm just glad you're all right…" Takuya whispered softly.

Just then, there was a giant explosion, directing all of our attention to the village where a giant green fire had spread. "What's going on!?" Zoey cried in panic. Tommy gripped my hand tightly and hid behind me. "Look at the size of that fire!!" JP cried in shock, pointing towards the burning inferno.

It was then too small odd creature came stumbling out of the flames, running towards us while screaming their heads off. "Now look what you got me into!" the white creature shouted, slapping the yellow kangaroo-looking-thing before picking up the pace. The two creatures crashed into Takuya, causing him to fall forward and land on top of me, his lips barely brushing against my own. "Gah!" Takuya yelped, quickly pushing back with a deep blush painted across his face.

"It's a human!" the white creature gasped, staring dumbfounded at Takuya and me. "You think everything's a human." The yellow kangaroo thing retorted, unconvinced. "Don't start with me, you!" the white creature snapped irritably, pulling a magnifying glass out of its pink waistband and inspecting Takuya. "I'm human! Would you mind getting off of me now?" Takuya asked, trying to pull the digimon off of himself, but they had a firm grip on him, preventing him from doing so. "I'm so sorry. It's his fault." The white creature apologized before blaming it on his companion. "Yeah, my fault." The yellow creature agreed, nodding his head. I wonder if he even realized that he just insulted himself. "Hey!" the yellow creature snapped with an irk mark. Well, that says it all…a late reaction.

"Huh?" Takuya's attention seemed locked on a blurry image that could barely be seen through the flames. "What's that?" Takuya asked, directing all of our attention towards the fire. "That is one _bad_ dog! Cerberumon's special attack is _Emerald Blaze_ and that's why we need your help!" the white creature told Takuya.

_**"Where's the ancient spirit?"**_ Cerberumon snarled, baring his fangs while taking a step forward, its gaze boring into Takuya's.

The two odd creatures hopped off of Takuya's back and hid behind him. "So, whenever you're ready, go get 'em!" the white creature encouraged, giving Takuya a small shove. "That would be good." The yellow creature agreed, cowering behind my friend. "Whoa, whoa! You're not seriously gonna stand up to that thing, are you, Takuya!?" I asked anxiously.

_**"I can sense the spirit's presence all over this town. I must destroy it!" **_Cerberumon growled, staring us down as if we were meat.

"No way! It's mine!" Takuya shouted, causing all of our mouths to drop. "Are you _serious!?_ He'll kill you!" Kouichi protested, trying to talk my hot-headed friend out of this idea.

_**"Then you shall be destroyed with it!" **_Cerberumon snapped, opening his mouth for an attack. "This can't be good..." I commented with a sweat-drop, watching green fire swirl within its mouth. _**"Emerald Blaze!"**_

Green fire shot out of Cerberumon's mouth, blocking our escape path on or right and left, also cutting us off from Kouichi and the others. "Well this isn't good!" I panicked, feeling Tommy squeeze the life out of my right arm. "Are you crazy?! Run! Run!" the white creature shouted, slapping Takuya on the shoulder. "Go? Go where exactly!?" Takuya snapped back. He had a point though. We had no escape routes. "Anywhere but here!" the yellow creature cried, tugging on Takuya's hat.

"Argh! Come on, Alex!" Takuya shouted, grabbing my hand and dragging me towards the flames. "What are you _doing?!_" I yelped, grabbing a hold of Tommy and picking him up as Takuya continued to drag me along. My friend ran through the flames and led us over to the trail tracks, jumping onto them and then grabbing a hold of the metal bar as the land behind us began to evaporate.

"That mutt is going to eat up the whole village!" the white creature cried, causing the three of us to glance back and see him absorb some kind of data. Kouichi and the others were still safe on the station platform, as for us…well, it doesn't exactly look promising. "Ah, great!" Takuya groaned, tightening his grip on me. "There go the train tracks..." the yellow creature noted. How right he was. The train tracks that held the track we were currently on had disappeared, causing the metal bar to drop down with us sliding down with it since we couldn't hold on.

"Alex!!" Kouichi cried, running to the edge of the train's station with JP and Zoey at his side. "Takuya!" JP yelped, watching us fall. "Oh no!" Zoey gasped, covering her mouth with both hands.

I can't begin to tell you how fortunate we were that there was some land below. The downside, we didn't exactly land softly. "Ow…" I groaned, pushing myself up off of the ground. "I've had better landings…" Takuya grunted, rubbing his sore head while sitting up as well. I directed my attention to the small boy beside me. "Are you okay, Tommy?" I asked, helping him sit up. "Wha-what's gonna happen now?" he asked anxiously, gripping my arm tightly with fear reflecting in his blue eyes. I glanced towards Takuya for some kind of answer, but he seemed just about as lost as I was. "Don't worry. I'm sure we'll figure something out." Takuya reassured Tommy and me. I shot my friend an unconvinced look, wondering if he knew what we were going to do next. Takuya noticed my uneasiness and shot me one of his famous grins. "Really, don't worry about it, Alex. I'll protect you." Takuya comforted me.

An electronic beep sounded, catching our attention. We turned our heads to see Takuya's D-tector on the ground. Its screen flashed with light as it suddenly floated in midair, shooting a beam of some sort into the raging fire from the boiler behind us. The boiler then exploded, startling us all as blue flames shot up from ground.

"Wha-" Takuya began, trailing off. I was as dumbfounded as he was. I could only gap at the sight. Who would've thought a D-tector had the power to explode things? Note to self: Never touch Takuya's strange, _dangerous_ device. EVER!

"It's--the spirit!" the white creature gasped, pointing towards an object that formed within the flames. "It's the spirit of flame." It informed us, turning its gaze towards Takuya. "The spirit?" Takuya breathed, staring at the said object in awe. "That wasn't so hard." He commented, a smirk appearing on his lips. Clenching his right hand into a fist, determination burned brightly in my best friend's eyes. "Time to go home!"

We stared at Takuya, anxiously waiting to see what he would do. "Uh, but how am I supposed to get it? And what I am supposed to do with it once I do?" Takuya asked, turning towards me for some kind of advice. I blinked a couple of times before realizing that he wanted me to answer. "Um...my advice? Touch the fire, you get burned. Don't touch the fire, we don't get the spirit and we'll end up as dog meat for that crazy pooch out there." I replied, jabbing my thumb over my shoulder towards the area where Cerberumon was. "What kind of advice is that!? There's no upside whatsoever!" Takuya huffed, shooting me a weak glare. "Hm, then how about, do your best and forget the rest?" I offered with a sheepish grin. "That was our old kindergarten phrase!" Takuya retorted with an irk mark. "What am I? A fortune cookie!? I've got nothing!" I whined, waving my arms hysterically.

_**"No need to worry about that...for soon it will be destroyed!"**_ Cerberumon's voice rang out. We all turned around to see the giant black dog creature land on the ground in front of us.

…Okay, we're officially screwed.

"It's coming!! It's coming!!" Tommy cried, tugging on my arm frantically while watching Cerberumon charge towards us. Takuya quickly pushed me behind him and stood in front of me and Tommy in a protective stance. "What are we gonna do, Takuya? There's no way we stand a chance against that thing!" I told my friend, anxiety reflecting in my eyes. Takuya glanced over shoulder to stare at me for a moment, his eyes seemed to be burning with some kind of emotion I couldn't quite put my finger on. "Whatever happens, don't interfere! Got it, Alex?" Takuya told me in a firm tone, catching me by surprise while gently pushing me out of the way. "Wha…?" I trailed off, watching my friend pick a metal bar up off of the ground.

"Ugh, this sure ranks pretty high on a scale from 1 to stupid!" Takuya muttered, bracing himself for Cerberumon's assault. "Takuya!!" I cried out, feeling myself instantly panic as Cerberumon opened his mouth to bite the boy, but Takuya defended himself by holding up the metal bar to protect himself, allowing Cerberumon to sink its teeth into it instead of his own flesh.

_**"Out of my way, human!"**_ Cerberumon sneered, easily snapping the bar in half before jumping over Takuya. Out of quick reflex, Takuya grabbed the creature's tail with both hands, causing him to be pulled along with him into the burning inferno.

"Takuya!!" I wanted to rush over and help him, but the two small creatures from earlier where holding me back by gripping my right leg and holding onto it with all their might. Let go! Takuya's in trouble!" I snapped, trying to shake the creatures off of myself. "No! You heard the boy! He said don't interfere!" the white creature reminded me, continuing to prevent me from going after my friend.

"Dammit! TAKUYA!!" I screamed, feeling my eyes well up with tears.


End file.
